In hiding
by moonstone glows
Summary: Someone from the past warns Mark of a current threat. MM Mark Jason mild shonnen ai implied


DISCLAIMER: Not mine, never gonna be mine. I make no money nor claim any credit for the genesis of these characters. That would be Sandy Franks and co.

_**In hiding**_

_Mark lay fast asleep in bed in his small room at the airfield. A cool breeze suddenly brushed over the bare skin of his upper body, and he groaned softly, turning restlessly, but didn't wake. A shadowy figure flitted across the darkened room, and Mark woke abruptly as a hand clamped over his mouth._

_"Hush, be still." A shockingly familiar voice ordered him. His eyes widened, and he relaxed against the bed, nodding slightly. The hand was removed, and he reached out instantly to turn the lamp beside the bed on, throwing bright light onto the face of his very unexpected nocturnal visitor._

_"I thought you were dead." Was all he could think of to say._

_"That's what Zoltar intended everyone to think. I've been on a Spectra slave planet all this time." Chronos said, reaching out to very gently touch the side of his son's face._

_"I never thought I'd see you again... son." He said, trying out the unfamiliar word, they were both more used to addressing each other by name, because they had been friends long before Mark had found out Chronos was his father._

_"How did you come to be here, if you were a prisoner of Zoltar?"_

_"I managed to escape, I had to."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because you are in terrible danger."_

_"Me, why?"_

_"He's finally figured out that you're the glue that holds G-Force together. You may be a team, but you're the commander, and without you, the others tend to bicker, you know they do. Zoltar has told all his agents to target you specifically, and ignore the others. He has put a massive reward up for the man who brings him your body."_

_"Well, thank you for the warning, I'll be on my guard."_

_"No, you have to come with me Mark, you're not safe here. He has attracted some of the best hunters in the known galaxies, and there is a chance that their spies know both of your identities. You have to come with me."_

_"No, I have to contact Anderson, and the others." _

_"No, you can't trust anyone."_

_"Then how do I know I can trust you?" Mark demanded._

_Chronos leaned forward and whispered something very quietly in his ear, and Mark felt his last doubts melt away. Chronos had told him the pet name he and Mark's mother had had for their son, and no one else could know that, not even Anderson, to whom his father had entrusted him, had known that name._

"_Still, I can't just go. People will worry, my lover will freak out."_

"_Lover?"_

"_Jason." Mark said, holding the older man's eyes with his chin held high._

"_Fine, he'll worry, but would he rather lose track of you for a while, or read your eulogy? These people will kill you Mark."_

_"All right, I'll go with you." Mark said, his heart clenching at the thought of worrying Jason this way._

_"Good, quickly." Chronos said, standing up and going to keep a watch out of the window while Mark got up and dressed. He turned to see him picking up his wrist activator._

_"No, they can use that to track you."_

_"And without it, I can't transmute. If Spectra is out to get me, I'm not going to run around defenseless."_

_"All right, but keep the transmitter and receivers turned off unless you absolutely have to."_

_"Of course." Mark said, following his father out of the room._

_"Where are we going?" He asked Chronos._

_"I don't know yet. Away from here, for now, then we'll have to see about getting you off Earth all together."_

_Anderson paced his office irritably, looking up as Jason, Tiny, Princess and Keyop came in._

_"You wanted to see us Chief?" Princess asked him._

_"Yes, I did. Mark had a meeting with me this morning, and he failed to turn up. He's also apparently turned off his wrist radio. I want you to tell me, in all honesty, do you know where your Commander is?" _

_"No, he didn't say anything to us." Jason said, fear for his lover making him feel sick. It wasn't like Mark to vanish without a word to him at least._

_"It isn't like him to go off without saying anything, something must have happened to him." Princess said, defending Mark._

_"He has gone off without permission before." Anderson pointed out._

_"But he always told someone." Princess said doggedly. Anderson sighed and sank into the chair behind his desk looking at the stark fear in Jason's eyes. He had raised Mark after his father had gone to Riga and taken on the persona of Colonel Chronos, he was like a son to him, and he didn't want to think that he had gone absent without leave, or that he would scare his lover with no reason, but there had been nothing from Spectra for some time now, so he didn't see what else could have happened._

_The intercom on his desk beeped and he pushed the button._

_"What is it Zark?"_

_"Chief Anderson, I have just had some bad news from Susan on Pluto. Several of the most dangerous bounty hunters in the known Galaxies are heading here, to Earth. According to all our readings, they have just one target."_

_"G-Force?" Anderson asked._

_"No Sir, Mark himself. Zoltar has targeted Mark, knowing that without him, the team will be badly weakened, vulnerable."_

_"Thank you Zark, I want you to put everything you have into finding Mark, I want to know where he is, and who has him."_

_"Understood chief." Zark said._

_"Oh no, if Spectra has Mark, Zoltar could..." Princess burst into tears, unwilling to finish the thought._

_"Then we have to hope that Spectra doesn't have him."_

_"Then where is he Chief? If he was warned what was coming, he would have come to us, not gone off alone." Jason said, privately thinking that Mark would have come to HIM if he was in trouble._

_"Tweep, bloop, deep, big trouble." Keyop chirped._

_"We will find him, one way or another." Anderson swore grimly._

_Chronos had got his hands on a two man ship from somewhere, and he and Mark were already a long way from Earth. He glanced over at his son, who had gone back to sleep in the copilots chair, just as he woke again._

_"Where are we?" Mark asked._

_"Nearly there."_

_"Where?"_

_"Riga." _

_"Why Riga?" _

_"Because, I have friends there who can help me to protect you."_

_"But surely Riga is the first place both Zoltar and Anderson will look."_

_"Why? They have no idea you're with me, and even if they do, you will be very well hidden."_

_"Zoltar knows you're alive."_

_"But he doesn't know you're my son. No one knows that except Anderson and your team. Not even my friends on Riga know the truth, they think we're just protecting a friend."_

_"If you're sure." Mark said, still sounding a little uncertain._

_"Trust me son, I will never allow any harm to befall you if I can stop it." _

_"I trust you." Mark said quietly._

_"Good." Chronos said._

_Anderson looked up as the rest of G-Force came into his office._

_"What is it?" He asked._

_"We found a faint trace at the spaceport." Jason said._

_"Go on." _

_"Two men, one about Marks age, the other older. The older man filed a flight plan to Riga, the younger one didn't get close enough for the men in the control office to get a good look at his face. They took off in a private ship not long after Zark says Mark's wrist radio was deactivated."_

_"Do you have a description of the older man?" _

_"No, most of his face was obscured."_

_"Well, it looks like Mark at least went with this man willingly." Anderson said._

_"So it was someone he trusted, or at least, he thought it was someone he trusted." Jason said._

_"Yes. Take off for Riga, see if you can pick up the trail there." _

_"G-Force." They chorused, and they were out of the door in a flash._

_Mark and Chronos disembarked in a dark, private corner of the Rigan spaceport, well away from any prying eyes. As soon as his feet hit the asphalt, Mark felt a sharp prick in his upper arm. He spun, and even as his vision blurred and doubled, he caught a flash of red, then strong arms around him, and his fathers voice as his knees gave way._

_"What the hell did you do that for?" Chronos demanded._

_"Just because you trust your friend, doesn't mean the rest of us are ready to let him know the location of the hide out yet." The red ranger who had drugged Mark said. Mark was still fighting the drug, trying to support his own weight, to pull away from Chronos. He held him tighter, to stop him taking swing at the man who had drugged him._

_"Easy Mark, let it go. Just relax, I have you." Chronos said soothingly. Mark gave in to the drug, blacking out, and Chronos picked him up easily, cradling his light weight like a child._

_"All right, let's get out of here. Where are the others?"_

_"Beyond the perimeter fence." _

_The Phoenix landed at the spaceport, and the rest of G-Force got out._

_"Hey, over there in the corner, that's the ship that Mark and the other guy left Earth in." Jason said._

_"Good, we must be on the right track then. Let's go and see if we can find out something about it."_

_But when they asked about the ship, they ran into a dead end. The man at the spaceport insisted that the ship had belonged to Colonel Chronos, and that it had not been moved since his death._

_"What now?" Princess asked, once they had left the building._

_"We report in to the chief. Something is not right here, that is definitely the ship that took off from Earth, I saw the security recordings."_

_Anderson listened to what Jason had to say, and looked at the image of the four of them on his screen._

_"Jason, the older man in the images, you said he had most of his face covered. Could it have been Chronos, or someone pretending to be Chronos?" _

_"It could have been, but Mark has been caught out that way before, the man must have said or done something to make Mark trust him." _

_"Yes, but I don't know what he could have said or done to convince him. I want that planet searched, inch by inch if you have to. I want to know who has Mark."_

_Chronos sat in the main room of the hideout, with four of his most trusted men. The door to the bedroom was open so that he could keep an eye on Mark, Humans sometimes reacted badly to drugs meant for Rigans._

_"Have our people been keeping an eye out for any of Zoltar's hunters appearing on Riga?"_

_"Yes, so far, they have all been concentrating their efforts on Earth, however, G-Force has been hanging around the spaceport, asking questions about your ship. If Spectra notices them here, they might decide Riga is worth looking at."_

_"Damn, we're going to have to get them warned off somehow. If they bring Spectra here, Mark is finished."_

_"Why are you so concerned with protecting the commander of G-Force anyway? Let them look after their own, we have enough troubles with them after us."_

_Chronos trusted these men with his life, but he wasn't yet ready to trust them with the life of his son._

_"I want to protect Mark because he is my friend, and if we can keep him out of sight we have a better chance than protecting him than they do. They would be better served dealing with this latest Spectra threat. If they can prove to Zoltar that they can operate as a team without him keeping them in check, he may decide that it isn't worth the time and effort to hunt Mark down and kill him. They must be convinced to leave here, to focus on fighting the threat to his life."_

_"Will you go and talk to them?"_

_"No, you go, I will not leave him. Tell them nothing about me, I am dead, and do not tell them where he is."_

_"Understood."_

_G-Force were still at the spaceport when the red ranger collared them, away from prying eyes._

_"You must leave Riga." He said without preamble._

_"Sorry, we're looking for something." Jason said._

_"Yes, your commander. The longer you stay here, the more chance you will turn the Spectra hunters attentions in this direction. He is safe with us, for the moment, if you persist in looking for him, you will get him killed. Go back to Earth, deal with the hunters, and once we are sure he is safe, he will be returned to you."_

_"How do we know we can trust you, and why do you care what happens to him anyway?" Tiny demanded._

_"As to the first, you have no choice, as to the second, before he died, Chronos cared a great deal for his friend from Earth, we were under orders to make sure no evil befell him at the hands of Zoltar."_

_"We want to see him, see for ourselves that he is safe." Princess said._

_"No. You must leave Riga now, go back to Earth and deal with Zoltar."_

_Mark woke up feeling dizzy and nauseous, but he pushed himself to his feet and went through to the other room. Chronos was the only person there now, and he looked up as Mark came in. He watched his son stumble his way into a chair._

_"You should stay in bed a little longer, you're not ready to be up yet."_

_"I'll manage. Where are the others?"_

_"They had things to do."_

_"What did that man give me?"_

_"I'm sorry, it was a sedative meant for Rigan physiology. It often has a bad effect on humans."_

_"I'm not as human as you might think."_

_"What?"_

_"Am I right in thinking that my mother was human?"_

_"Yes, of course."_

_"And you're Rigan."_

_"Did Anderson tell you that? He was never meant to."_

_"He had no option. Zoltar nearly killed me, and in order to save my life, he had to give the doctors orders to do something dangerous."_

_"What?" _

_"Assume I was Rigan enough to tolerate the higher strength Rigan implants they were working on. It wasn't much of a choice for him really, certain death from implant failure, against possible death from being too human to take the only implants that could be ready in time."_

_"You have a lot of respect for Anderson, don't you?"_

_"Yes, he raised me, was like a father, without trying to be my father, if you understand what I mean."_

_"Yes, I think I do. He was always a good friend."_

_Mark sighed and leaned forward, resting his head on the table as the nausea got worse._

_"You're really not having a good reaction to that sedative Mark."_

_"If I were going to have a bad reaction to it, it would have happened right after it was injected. I'll be fine."_

_"If you're sure." Chronos said doubtfully._

_"Don't worry about me." Mark said._

_"How can I not worry? Fourteen years ago, I handed you to another man to raise. There has not been a single day since then I haven't worried about you, especially after you graduated the academy and became the commander of G-Force."_

_The door opened than, and the man Chronos had sent to the spaceport came in._

_"Report." Chronos said._

_"In a moment Colonel, medical matters first." The man said, seeing how ill Mark looked, and going to check him over. He prepared an injection, and went to give it to Mark, who pulled his arm away and nailed the man with a suspicious glare._

_"It's not another sedative commander, it will just help counter the ill effects you are feeling from the sedative." The man said. Mark looked over at Chronos, who nodded._

_"It's all right Mark, Davos was a doctor for a long time before he became a red ranger. I trust him."_

_Mark allowed the man to give him the shot._

_"Now, you really should sleep for a little longer commander. When you wake, you will feel much more yourself again." _

_Once Mark was sleeping once more, the doctor came back out to talk to Chronos._

_"G-Force were a little reluctant, but they have gone back to Earth to capture the Spectra hunters. It's time for the truth Chronos, who is he?"_

_"He's the commander of G-Force."_

_"Oh, I have no doubt about that, my examination picked up the implants. However, you're not being completely honest about something, and if you want to keep him alive, I have to have a better idea of his true medical history. Is he really human?"_

_"His mother was human, but I am his father."_

_"I thought as much."_

_"Davos, you cannot tell any of the others. No one knows what I have just told you, his life may depend on it staying that way. Until this war is over, and Spectra is no longer a threat, no one can know there is a blood tie between me and the commander of G-Force."_

_"You have my word old friend." _

_"Thank you."_

_Anderson looked up as Jason and the others came into his office._

_"What are you four doing back here? Don't tell me he wasn't on Riga after all."_

_"Oh, he's there."_

_"Then why didn't you bring him back with you?"_

_"We were warned off by one of the red rangers. They have Mark safe, out of respect for Chronos, and they say they'll keep him safe until the threat from the hunters is dealt with."_

_"Did you see him, did he tell you himself that he wants to stay where he is?"_

_"No, but there was something about the man we spoke to that I found I trusted. They really do have Mark's safety at heart, and the quickest way for us to get him back is to deal with Zoltar." Jason said._

_"All right. The four of you have to work as a team here, no bickering. You do understand that, don't you?"_

_"We understand." They chorused._

_"Good, go."_

_They managed to capture the Bounty Hunters on Earth, finding them surprisingly easily, because many of them were carrying devices to track the unique implants they each had._

_"Although, their information is a little out of date." Anderson said, examining one of the devices in his office._

_"What do you mean?" Tiny asked._

_"These are all set to track Mark's implants all right, but his original implants, not the ones he has now." _

_"So, even if any of them do go to Riga looking for him, he should be safe?" Princess asked._

_"I hope so. I had a call from Zark just before you came in. A Spectra ship has just entered the Rigan system, heading straight for Riga. You had better get back out there and try to find Mark and the red rangers protecting him, back them up."_

_"Yes Sir." They chorused, hurrying out._

_In the command center of the Spectra attack ship, Zoltar sat in the command chair._

_"My Lord, we have just had a report from Earth." One of the cringing Spectra men said._

_"What is it?"_

_"All of the bounty hunters have been captured, and there was no sign of the G-Force commander there anywhere."_

_"Good, then my theory was right, he must have fled to Riga. I know the rest of them had come here for a reason." Zoltar sneered. He leaned forward in his seat to look at the man at the console directly in front of him._

_"Activate the tracking units, full power. If he is here, I want him found within the day." _

_"Yes Sir." The man said, activating the screen._

_Davos ran into the small shack where Mark and Chronos were, and Chronos saw the look on his face._

_"Davos, what is it, what's wrong?" He asked._

_"Spectra is here, an attack ship just penetrated the atmosphere."_

_"Where are they landing?" _

_"They're not, they're flying in a search grid. Chronos, they know he's here, they're looking for him."_

_Mark looked at his father, an odd look in his eyes._

_"G-Force is coming, I can feel it."_

_"Good, but until they get here, maybe we should keep on the move." Chronos said._

_"No." Mark said._

_"Mark..."_

_"I'm not running anymore, if they want me, they can come and try to get me, but they will have one hell of a fight on their hands." Mark said. Chronos looked at his son, and felt an immense sense of pride in him._

_"Davos, call the rest of the cell in, tell them to get here quickly, but without attracting attention. When Telos arrives, tell him to get one of the spare jets ready for Mark. We're going to stand and fight, if it looks like Spectra have found us."_

_"Right." Davos said, hurrying to do as he had been told._

_"Mark, are you sure you're feeling better now?"_

_"I'm fine now."_

_"Good. We'll keep a close eye on what Spectra is doing, and if it looks like they have found you, we'll take the fight to them. It's been a while since we flew together to battle Spectra." _

_"Yes." Mark agreed with a smile._

_The Phoenix reached Riga, and saw the Spectra ship quartering the skies._

_"They must be using another one of these scanners to try to find Mark." Princess said. _

_"Well, let's take care of them, then try a little hunting for ourselves." Tiny said._

_"Yeah, at least this tracker we confiscated from the bounty hunters should work for us, thanks to the chief programming in the right readings for Mark's new implants." Jason said._

_"Bleep doop deep... find Mark first?" Keyop asked._

_"No, we take care of the threat first, then we find Mark." Jason said firmly. Part of his reason was that he was as anxious to protect his lover as everyone else, but some small part of him wanted to prove that he was just as capable of commanding G-Force as Mark._

_"Tiny, take us in, prepare to engage that Spectra ship." _

_"Big ten." Tiny said._

_The six man red ranger cell was now gathered in the shack, waiting to see if they were going to have to engage the Spectra ship. Their ships were all ready to fly, well hidden in a secret underground hanger, and Telos was down there now, keeping an eye on the Spectra ship, and preparing a seventh fighter for Mark._

_"How is it going Telos?" Chronos asked as the man came up again._

_"The seventh ship is ready, but Spectra has been distracted." _

_"By what?" Chronos asked._

_"G-Force has arrived, and engaged them in battle." He said. Mark looked up sharply at this._

_"How are they doing?" _

_"Well, that ship of theirs is taking a pounding, but at least it has stopped Spectra's search for now."_

_Mark looked at Chronos._

_"I have to get back to my team. I can't let them fight Zoltar without me."_

_"If you try to reach the Phoenix, you will be killed. We'll fight as planned, in the fighter planes. With a little luck, Zoltar won't figure out who's flying." Chronos said. He looked at the other members of the cell._

_"I'm going with him. If any of you want to come with us, you're more than welcome, but I won't order you to." He said._

_"For a chance to give Zoltar a thrashing, I'm in." Davos said._

_In the end, they all went, seven fighter jets taking off in two waves. Chronos in command of one wing, with his usual two wingmen, and he had given Mark command of the other wing. Davos was the usual commander of that wing, and he had happily stepped aside for this one mission. The two wings climbed rapidly, joining in the battle._

_The Phoenix really was taking a beating from the Spectra attack ship, G-Force trying everything they could think of to gain an advantage, but every move was being blocked, and they were taking damage. Then on the screen, they saw two wings of Rigan fighters sweep across the top of them, opening fire on the Spectra ship with their missiles. The two wing commanders turned, passing belly to belly within meters of each other before circling off and taking their wings in opposite directions to continue their bombardment of the attack ship._

_"I bet we can name those two wing commanders." Princess said, her heart in her mouth at the risky manoeuvre they had just seen on the screen._

_"Yeah, Chronos and Mark are the only two people I've ever seen who can fly like that. Come on, let's get back in this fight, we came here to rescue Mark, not have him rescue us." Jason said._

_With the small fighters buzzing around, delivering stings to the Spectra attack ship. Zoltar knew that they were outgunned, and outmanned._

_"Curses. Check the scanner, is the G-Force commander involved in this battle at all?"_

_"No Zoltar."_

_"Curse them, I was sure they would fold without him, but instead, they have captured all my bounty hunters, and we are being bested here, and all with their commander nowhere in sight. Retreat, at once." Zoltar ordered, flinching as one of the two more annoying Rigan pilots flew straight toward the control center of the ship, firing its last missiles, as the control center erupted in flames, Zoltar threw himself out of the chair, running for the doors. _

_"Abandon ship." He ordered as he fled through the door._

_Mark pulled up as the Spectra ship started to lurch drunkenly across the sky, but misjudged slightly, and the ship clipped him as it went down, damaging his control surfaces. He fought to regain control, but he knew it was a lost cause, and he tried to eject. He felt a momentary flare of panic, as the ejection system failed, and then he was suddenly calm, either he would survive this landing, or he wouldn't, there was no use panicking about it._

_Davos was the only one who noticed one of the Rigan planes going down, out of control, as they all scrambled to put space between them and the stricken Spectra ship. He knew it was one of the wing commanders, but he wasn't sure which one, because the two wings had gotten mixed up in the heat of the battle. It didn't really matter which one it was though, one was one of his closest friends, and the other was his friends son._

_He followed the plane all the way down, landing moments after it hit the ground quite hard, and hurried over, desperate to get the pilot out incase the plane caught on fire. He forced the canopy back, and leaned in to release the straps, dragging the boy out. Mark was unconscious, and judging by his breathing, there was some damage to his ribs, and maybe even his lungs._

_"Hang on kid, just hang on." He said, lying him down on the grass well away from the damaged plane moments before it exploded._

_Chronos scanned the sky, realizing that they were two planes short, two of the most important to him, his son, and his closest friend. He saw the explosion, and the roiling column of smoke, and felt a cold hand grip his heart._

_"No, please no." He whispered as he started his descent._

_On the Phoenix, they too had seen the explosion, and registered the fact that two of the Rigan fighters were missing._

_"Princess, get that scanner on, I want to know where Mark is." Jason ordered. She quickly obeyed._

_"Oh Jason, it shows him on the ground, right by that explosion." _

_"Tiny, get us down there." Jason snapped, terrified for his lover. _

_Tiny landed, aware of the other Rigan plane coming down fast, looking for a place with enough room to land. They jumped down to the ground, and found the man who had warned them off at the spaceport, leaning over Mark. There was a medical kit open at his knee, and he was working furiously, pumping a series of injections into Mark._

_"What are you doing?" Jason demanded._

_"His ribs are broken, and they're pressuring his lungs. I'm trying to stabilize him. I don't suppose that thing has any medical equipment aboard."_

_"The Phoenix has a fully equipped sickbay." Jason said._

_"Good, then we need to get him into it, now. I have to deal with the pressure on his lungs before his condition deteriorates any further._

_"Just who are you?" Jason demanded._

_"Davos?" Mark gasped, his voice desperate, breathless, wracked with pain._

_"Hush, do not even attempt to talk. You cannot afford to waste the oxygen."_

_"Want my father." Mark rasped._

_"Hush. Just lets worry about your breathing before we worry about anything else. He's not far away, he'll be with you as soon as he can." Davos soothed, then he looked up at Jason._

_"Do you want him to live?" He asked very quietly._

_"Tiny, get up top and drop the rescue platform. If he's that badly hurt, we don't want to try to move him too far." Jason said._

_"You have some first aid training?" Davos asked him._

_"I'm paramedic trained." Jason replied._

_"Good, then you've just been drafted as my surgical assistant."_

_"What?" Jason choked, stunned out of his usual unruffled attitude._

_"He needs surgery, now, and there isn't time to move him. I need help, and you're it."_

_Security Chief Anderson hurried down the corridor of the Rigan medical facility. He had left Earth the moment G-Force had reported that they were engaging the Spectra ship, he had already been well on his way when he had been informed that the Rigan fighters had entered the fight, and that Mark and Chronos were leading the Rigan assault on Spectra, and he had almost been in the system when the bad news had come through, Mark had crash landed, and was badly injured._

_Anderson saw the rest of G-Force, out of transmute now, standing huddled together in the corridor._

_"Any news?" He demanded._

_"He's stable now, he's going to be fine. They want to keep him under sedation for a day or two so that they can monitor him." Jason said, looking pale, with his hands visibly shaking._

_"Why?" Anderson asked._

_"Just to make sure there are no complications after the field surgery." _

_"Field surgery?"_

_"Yes, we had to operate in the field to stabilize him, or he would never have survived the transfer to the medical facility." Another voice said. Anderson turned to see Chronos and another man approaching down the corridor._

_"Colonel Chronos, I'm very pleased to see you're still alive." Anderson said a little cautiously._

_"But you're not sure I really am Colonel Chronos, are you, old friend?"_

_"No." Anderson said frankly._

_"Mark trusts me."_

_"I'm afraid Mark is so desperate to think you're still alive that he would believe it regardless."_

_"I proved my identity to his satisfaction." Chronos said softly._

_"How?" _

_"That would be between my son and myself." He said very quietly. Anderson looked sharply at the man with Chronos, and Chronos smiled._

_"Davos is a very old and trusted friend, and he had to know the truth. He is a doctor, and while Mark was here, his health was in Davos's hands."_

_A man in a white coat came along then, looking at the group._

_"We have him settled in his room now, and just under light sedation at the moment, so you can see him. Don't let him talk too much, don't let him get over exited, and under no circumstances is he to try to get up. He's being monitored, and if we feel he is endangering himself, we will sedate him fully."_

_"Understood, thank you doctor." Anderson said._

_"We can't all go in there together, that will be too much for him." Princess said._

_"Well, Chronos should definitely go in, Mark was calling for him even before we had to..." Jason trailed off with a shudder, his stomach turning over at the thought of what he had seen and done in the Phoenix sickbay. He had been trained to deal with injuries, even serious injuries, but nothing could have prepared him for having his hands inside his lover's chest._

_"Come on, you and me, old friend." Chronos said, putting a hand on Anderson's arm. He sensed his old friend still wasn't sure he trusted him, and that he wasn't happy at the thought of him alone with a defenseless Mark._

_They entered the room, and Mark opened his eyes as he heard the footsteps in the doorway. He saw the two men in the doorway, and closed his eyes again with a soft sigh._

_"If either of you are planning to yell at me about anything at all, I'm too tired, and too uncomfortable." He said quietly._

_"You're not supposed to be talking too much." Anderson chided him gently as the two of them approached the bed where he lay. Chronos took Mark's hand, and said something quiet in Rigan, which brought a faint smile to Mark's pale face._

_Mark opened his eyes again, looking at Anderson._

_"You're angry because I left."_

_"No, I was... irritated... that you didn't tell anyone you were going, what was going on, but that was more because I was worried than anything else. I know you may not believe it sometimes Mark, I know you sometimes think I'm harder on you than anyone else, but I do care about you."_

_"I know you do. I'm sorry I let you down. I let you both down."_

_"No, you haven't let anyone down." Chronos and Anderson said together._

_"I have. I left Earth without a word, then I almost got myself killed with a stupid pilot error."_

_"You have to stop talking Mark, or they'll come in and knock you out completely. You did a good job, and I want you back in command of G-Force as soon as the doctors say you're fit." Anderson reassured him. Mark smiled again, his eyes closing, and they thought he had either fallen asleep or blacked out. Anderson looked up at Chronos._

_"What did you say to him?" He asked._

_"I wasn't sure he remembered the Rigan I used to speak to him when he was a child. I'm glad he does." Chronos said quietly, not answering Anderson's question, what he had said to Mark had been personal._

_"I didn't know you spoke Rigan to him, I had no clue at all he understood the language."_

_"He probably never really knew himself. As a child, he was used to hearing it, and as an adult, he probably never would have heard it. How many people speak dead languages these days?"_

_"Very few. Is that how you got his trust, by knowing things only you could have known about his childhood?"_

_"Yes." Chronos said. He looked down at the pale, handsome young man in the bed, and sighed._

_"Now he's safe, I have to go again, to make sure he stays that way. We cannot afford to have Zoltar make a connection between us." _

_"It's going to be hard, leaving him again."_

_"Yes, but it's easier knowing that he's going to be in safe hands. You raised him well, and I know I can trust you with him again now. Look after him for me." Chronos said, walking away. He hesitated in the doorway, but forced himself not to look back, striding from the room._

"_Can I see Jason?" Mark whispered in a very small voice._

"_You're supposed to be asleep."_

"_Please, he feels so angry, I need to see him, I need to tell him…." Mark trailed off, a tear escaping his eye and trickling down his pale face._

"_Hush, don't upset yourself. I'll send him in, but you have to take it easy. OK?"_

"'_K." Mark whispered._

_The others looked up as Anderson came out of the room._

"_Jason, he wants to see you. He's a little distressed, and I know you have every right to be mad at him, but please, try to get him to calm down."_

"_Yes Sir." Jason said, walking into the room._

"_Oh Mark." He sighed, seeing his mate with tears wetting his pale face._

"_I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Mark said in a shuddering sob._

"_Hey, take it easy babe, you're supposed to be resting. What are you in a state about anyway?"  
"You're mad at me, for going without saying anything."_

"_Oh, no love, not that. I was scared when you were missing, and a little mad that you got injured, but not mad at you, just the situation. I love you Mark, you mean everything to me. I don't want to lose you, and I thought I might, you know." He said, leaning down to press a soft, chaste kiss to his lover's lips._

"_Go to sleep love. I'll see you in the morning, I promise."_

_Mark finally gave in, allowing the dark to claim him, his hand curled tightly around Jason's strong hand._

_It was late the next day before Mark woke again, feeling much stronger now, much more himself. It no longer hurt to breathe, or to move, he realized as he sat up. He looked around the room, and saw Anderson, framed against the setting sun in the window as he looked down into the city below._

_"He's gone again, isn't he?" Mark asked._

_"Yes." Anderson said, turning to face him._

_"He didn't even say goodbye." Mark said, sounding upset._

_"Would it have made it any easier if he had?" Anderson asked, coming over and sitting on the edge of the bed, facing Mark._

_"No, I suppose not." Mark said, feeling tears pricking his eyes._

_Anderson pulled him close, and Mark did something he had only done once or twice since he was four years old, he allowed Anderson to comfort him as he cried._

_"Come on kid, let's get you home." He said when Mark was finally composed again._

_Chronos and Davos stood on a hillside, and watched the Phoenix taking off for Earth once more._

_"You did the right thing Chronos, you're both safer apart until Spectra is defeated once and for all." Davos said._

_"I know, but it still hurts. Anderson has been more of a father to my son than I have."_

_"Then you're lucky you had such a good friend to leave him with. Come on my friend, the others are waiting for us."_

_"Yes, you're right of course. Anyway, while we are involved in this endless battle against Spectra, I'm always likely to run into him again. The commander of G-Force is always there when Spectra needs to be taught a lesson."_

_The End!_


End file.
